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Brother Glass Save
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota Date: May 2, 1994 Story It had only been two weeks since Michelle Larson moved to St. Paul, Minnesota with her two sons, ten-year-old Ian and seven-year-old Joe. On the afternoon of May 2, 1994, she thought they would be safe on their own from the time they got home from school to when she did so from work. "We do a lot of stuff together. We ride our bikes. Sometimes I ditch him," remembers Ian. Ian and Joe were in their room watching television, but then they felt bored and decided to jump on the beds. "Our three beds are right next to each other. They are easy to jump on. It's like a big trampoline," said Ian. They were pushing each other on the beds when suddenly Joe knocked the window open and cut his right arm severely on the glass. Ian put it on the inside of the bathtub and told him to hold a towel on it pretty tight so that the blood would not come out as fast and ran to call 911. "I never thought that glass could do that much," said Ian. St. Paul fire dispatcher Patrick Twiss took the call. "In my experience a child would describe any bleeding as a lot of bleeding. I could hear the victim crying in background," said Patrick. Ian tried to get Joe to calm down and hold the towel tight on his arm. But he couldn't get up and started moaning in pain. "His chest was moving up and down," said Ian. He ran back to the phone and told Patrick that Joe had a hole in his arm. "The crying had stopped," said Patrick. Patrick typed out the information on his computer and asked Ian if Joe lost a lot of blood and Ian told him that he lost a whole bunch. Within four minutes, the St. Paul Fire Rescue Unit arrived led by EMT Mike Owner. Mike realized that Joe was turning blue and in cardiac arrest. "We need to move quick to get a blood pressure back in this child or we're gonna have a dead kid," said Mike. Paramedic Tom Ryan kept pressure on the wound while Mike let Ian ride with them to the hospital. "We elevated his legs so that any fluid that was left in his body would go up into his heart area," said Tom. Ian could see the paramedics poking needles into Joe's arm and everywhere in him and it just scared Ian. "We had a 3-4 minute ride to the hospital. It looked like the child might not make it," said Mike. Michelle rushed home from work as soon as she was notified. "They told me that your son has been cut. We need to take him to a hospital. Where would you like us to take him?" said Michelle. She saw the broken window and was horrified to see a large amount of blood in the bathroom. "From the time I gripped his arm to when we got to the hospital, I never let go," said Tom. Joe started breathing and opened his eyes. "It was almost like a miracle," said Mike. At Children's Hospital of St. Paul, Joe was put under the care of emergency physician Kathy Russo. "This boy probably lost about 40 percent of his blood volume. So we worried that he could have kidney failure. He could lose his arm," said Dr. Russo. When Joe saw Michelle and Ian he said, "I can't feel my arm." "And then he looked at me and said, 'Oh Mom, we got your good towels dirty.' That's my son, Joe," said Michelle. Joe underwent surgery to repair the severed artery and nerves in his right arm. "If he would have died I think my life would have been changed. My life would have been a lot sad," said Ian. It's been a year since the incident. "I couldn't feel anything in my right arm and it felt kind of funny on my left one because I had an IV in it. Now my arm is all better and I can play basketball and hockey: my two favorite sports," said Joe. He has some trouble with fine motor function in his fingers. Michelle taught Ian and Joe a lesson not to jump on the bed and put safety glass on the window to prevent them from doing so. "We are little closer now that this happened. My brother's a butt wipe but I love him because he saved my life," said Joe. Category:1994 Category:Minnesota Category:Glass Category:Bleeding Category:Kid Heroes Category:Cardiac Arrest